Unpatched Flaw Exposes LG NAS Devices to Remote Attacks

Researchers claim hackers can remotely exploit an unpatched command injection vulnerability to take control of network-attached storage (NAS) devices from LG.

VPN specialists at vpnMentor discovered that many LG NAS models are impacted by a flaw that can be exploited without authentication.

According to researchers, the password parameter in the login page is vulnerable to command injection. An attacker can abuse this parameter to execute arbitrary commands, including for adding a new user account and dumping the database containing existing usernames and passwords.

Adding a new username and an associated password hash allows an attacker to log in to the administration interface as an authorized user and access any file stored on the device.

vpnMentor told SecurityWeek that attacks exploiting this flaw can be launched both from the local network and the Internet. The company says it’s difficult to determine exactly how many devices are vulnerable to attacks from the Internet, but it estimates that it’s roughly 50,000.

vpnMentor has randomly tested a majority of LG NAS device models and they appear to be vulnerable. The company says LG uses two types of firmware across all its NAS products and one of them is impacted by this vulnerability.

LG has been notified about the security hole, but vpnMentor claims it has not received any response from the tech giant and there is no sign of a patch. SecurityWeek has reached out to LG for comment and will update this article if the company responds.

This is not the first time researchers have found serious vulnerabilities in LG NAS products. A couple of years ago, Hungary-based SEARCH-LAB analyzed LG’s N1A1 product and discovered multiple flaws that could have been leveraged to gain admin access to devices.

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.